Beginning of an Elf
by HuntressBiancadiAngelo
Summary: How did Bernard become a toy making elf? An elf working with Santa? Why is he so much taller than the other elves? Why is he rarely cheery or happy? Bernard was never supposed to be a toy making elf at the North Pole, no, he was supposed to be prince of the Waldelfens, but that fantasy was destroyed, by one Jack Frost. Warning: Death, nothing to major or graphic


**A/N I've had this idea on my mind for a while. Pretty much, it's just an origin story, where Bernard came from, and answering a question, why is Bernard taller than the other elves?**

** Disclaimer: If I owned the Santa Clause movies Bernard would have been in the third and his back story would have been revealed.**

I screamed as a house toppled down in front of me. I felt my Mother's hand tighten around my own before she began to pull me away from where the fallen house was. I looked around at the destruction, all of the horrible destruction. Fires spreading through the whole village because a fire was toppled over. The blizzard baring down on us with extreme ferocity. The other elves lying unmoving on the ground. Some had been my friends. Buildings lying smashed and broken on their sides. The screaming of other people running away form where _he_ was. Jack Frost.

"Come on, honey," Mother said as she pulled me along, heading towards the only other exit of the town.

"I'm scared, mommy," I whimpered. I was more than scared, I was terrified. Everyone was dying and everything was being destroyed. Why did Jack Frost want to do this? Why couldn't he just leave us alone? Why was Jack Frost killing us? Did we do something wrong?

"I know, sweetie, I know you're scared, but we must get out of here. Come on," Mother swept me into her arms.

I curled against her, my hands tightening around the green berate on my head. Mother ran around one house to another, dodging around the falling buildings and avoiding the fires with amazing agility. I buried my face into Mother's clothing as a house toppled down right in front of us. The fire was closing in on all sides. But there, right in front of, was the large arch signifying the exit of our home, Heimat der Waldelfen, or just Heimat for short.

Despite only being six I understood what was happening, all elves did. We are smart, smarter than any other creature on Earth. And that's why Mother and I knew as we neared the archway that we weren't going to get out easily. In front of us was no other than Jack Frost. He was leaning lazily against one of the poles for the archway.

"So, Queeny, where do you think you're going?" Jack Frost asked as he pushed away from the archway. Fear bubbled up in my stomach, this was Jack Frost, the reason for all this catastrophe. He was standing right in front of us, blocking our path.

"Get out of my way Frost, or you will face the wrath of the Queen of Waldelfen," Mother snarled, placing me on the ground next to her.

I ran behind her, she could protect me, no one else could any more. Father was dead, he'd been killed fighting of Jack Frost, would the same happen to Mother? Mother stared at Jack Frost, eyes narrowed dangerously as lights began to spark at her hands, indicating the magic she had stored up just for this moment. Over the past week or so Mother had stored up as much magic as possible in case she had to face of against Jack Frost. Looks like today is the day.

"Oh, I'm so scared," Jack Frost laughed as he looked towards Mother. "Come at me, pretty."

Before any of us could react Jack Frost shot a pointy icicle at Mother. She easily dodged it before looking at me and shouting, "Run, my son! Hide! Do not come back out till I tell you to! Go!"

Despite my fear I followed Mother's instructions. I turned away from the fight that had begun and ran towards some buildings that hadn't fallen yet and looked to be fairly sturdy. I sat down against the building, feeling the cool wood pressing against my back. Ahh, it felt so good compared to how hot and humid the air was right now. Shouts and screams came from where Mother was. I curled into a tight ball, covering my pointy ears with my hands.

"Please...stop...please,"

**~The Santa Clause~**

"Sweetie, come here. It's safe now," I heard Mother's voice and immediately was alert.

Without a second thought I jumped out and away from my hiding spot, rushing towards Mother. She had stopped Jack Frost, we could get out now, we could find somewhere safe and bring the other Waldelfen after us. We could have a safe home again. But as I ran up to where Mother had been before I had ran I saw something that made me want to scream, throw up, and cry all at the same time. It was Mother, she was lying in a pool of blood, a sharp icicle submerged in her stomach. Blood poured over the rich purple fabric of her dress as she reached out to me.

"Come here, son, I must talk to you,"

I whimpered but went forward, dropping to my knees next to her, "Mommy?"

"Shh, it will be okay," Mother wiped away tears that I hadn't even realized were trailing down my face. "I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise me that you will get away from here. You must run away from here and find somewhere safe to live, another home. Try finding one of the legendary figures, Mother Nature, Sandman, even the Easter Bunny would do, just find someone to protect you. Promise me, mein Sohn."

"I-I p-promise, Mo-ommy," I sniffled, trying to hold in my tears. I had to be brave, Mother wanted me to be brave, and Father had always been brave.

"Good, now you must go. I'm sorry that I can't come with you any farther. I'm sorry..."

Mother's eyes closed and her chest stopped moving. I knew what that meant. Mother was dead. Tears began to fall down my cheeks and I couldn't hold back the sobs, mommy was gone. But I had promised her that I would get out of here, so I would. I pushed myself to my feet, my whole body felt like lead, unwilling to move. But I forced myself to walk to the archway. Once there I glanced backwards at my Mother's still body.

"Goodbye, mommy," I whisper before running away from the town.

The blizzard beats down on me. A blizzard that stretched for miles around our home. Jack Frost was going to destroy everyone, no one was going to make it, I might not even make it. More tears fall down my face, freezing there because of how cold it was. Mommy and daddy were gone, my friends were gone, my home was being destroyed, and I was completely alone and running to god knows where. I choked back the sob dying to get out. I had to be brave.

I ran for an hour. The effects of hypothermia was about to set in. Mother had made sure that I had very warm clothes on, but not even the specially designed closes Mother had made for me could stop the cold seeping into my bones. My movements became sluggish and before I knew it I was on the ground. I coughed up snow that had gotten in my mouth and tried to push myself back up, only to fall back to the ground. This was it, I was going to die. I would never make it to any a safe haven, to any of the people Mother had talked about.

"I'm sorry, mommy," I whispered as I gave up trying to get up from the snow.

The last thing I heard was the sound of jingle bells in the air.

**~The Santa Clause~**

_**3rd Person Pov**_

"It was very lucky we found him when we did," Father Time said as he looked down at the boy on the bed.

"Yes it was, that boy would have froze to death out there if we hadn't come along. Or, if Santa hadn't come along," Mother Nature agreed as she motioned towards Santa.

"We had a job to do and a child to save, it was nothing, I was just doing what was right," Santa said as he to looked towards the little boy.

Santa had found him just in time. The boy was freezing to death when Santa found him. A coating of snow had been over his whole body, he had been shivering badly, as his teeth had been chattering. Luckily, Santa's coat did come in handy every once in a while. Being from the North Pole Santa's coat was warmer than any other clothing in the world. Santa had just picked up the small boy and wrapped him in his coat, effectively starting to warm the boy up. All though he had still needed some medical attention. Honestly, Santa was shocked that the boy had even survived, most children wouldn't have even made it as far as he did, but then again, he was a Waldelfen.

"What is his name?" Santa asked, wanting desperately to know the name of this brave boy.

"We don't know," Easter Bunny said, hopping up next to Santa. "We knew that the Queen had a son but she was very secretive, like all Waldelfen are, she wanted to keep her son a secret as to protect him. She never told us anything about him but his birthday, which was a week ago if I may add in. He;s only six.

"We will have to wait for him to wake up, then we can talk to him and ask him about Jack Frost," Mother Nature nodded, as if agreeing with herself before walking out the door.

"Yeah, and then we'll have to tell him that everyone but him is dead," Santa muttered, looking sadly down at the boy who was now alone.

"Maybe he isn't fully alone," Father Time said cryptically before walking out of the room, the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Sandman following after him.

Santa stared in the direction Father Time had went for a couple minutes, muttering about how weird "that old bugger" was before looking down at the small boy again. The boy had begun to whimper, tossing and turning on the bed. Nightmare. Santa sat down on the boys bed, gently reaching out and placing a hand on the small boys head.

"Shh, it's okay, you're safe here, Jack Frost can't hurt you anymore. You're safe," Santa whispered to the little boy.

Somehow, just those words calmed the boy down, and he leaned in to Santa's touch, one last whimper escaping him. Santa stayed there for a couple minutes, marveling at just how small the boy was, he was smaller than the elves that worked in the factory! Santa also couldn't dare leave the boy, he felt it was his job to stay with the boy and help through any other nightmares, to be there when he woke up. Santa wasn't going to leave him any time soon.

Maybe this boy wasn't fully alone after all.

**~The Santa Clause~**

The boy's eyes fluttered open, darting around the room in an effort to recognize the room. Not recognizing any of the surroundings the boy sat upright like a lightning bolt, ignoring how his body protested the movement. Looking around the boy became even more confused and scared. The room itself wasn't really scary at all; it was fairly large, the bed much bigger than the boy, a desk was in the corner, two mugs of a steaming drink, which the boy rightly guessed to be hot chocolate, sat on a nightstand, and toys seemed to completely surround the room. No, the room itself wasn't what scared him, it was the fact that nothing looked familiar and the last memory he had was of collapsing in the snow, unable to move even an inch farther.

It was the voice from outside the hall shouting, "Keep on going elves, you're all doing great!" that had the boy scrambling off the bed, ignoring all protests his body was giving.

In all honesty, the boy felt horrible, his body felt like there was liquid lead in his veins. But that didn't stop him from crawling to the other side of the room and hiding under one of the tables. Even the child had to admit to himself that it wasn't a very good hiding spot, but it was all there was, and he didn't have any time to change hiding spots, for at that moment the door opened silently. Stepping in was a man wearing a bright red jacket, shirt and pants, along with suspenders. To anyone else he wouldn't have been that scary, not with that twinkle in his eyes and the obvious smile lines on his face from smiling so much, but to a boy who was much smaller than the man and already terrified enough from the days with Jack Frost destroying his home, this man was just as scary as Jack Frost.

The man looked at the bed, eyes widening when he saw no one on the bed, "Child. Child, if you are in here please come out. Please, I only wish to help you."

The man had been outside for at least ten minutes, so there was no way the boy could have gotten out, he knew the boy was still in the room. A small whimper alerted the man to where the child was. Turning towards where the sound had come from he saw the table, and instantly knew the boy was under it. Sighing, the man walked over to the table, kneeling down in front of it and seeing the small child. His heart broke when he saw the boy curled up as tightly as possible, as far back and out of his reach as was physically possible, bottom lip trembling, and tears threatening to overflow. The boy was positively terrified.

"Want to come out of there, child?" the man asked gently, holding out a hand to the little boy.

The boy just shook his head, causing the man to sigh and try again, "I won't hurt you. My name's Santa Clause; you're mother contacted me along with the other Legendaries to find you."

"S-Santa?" the boy stuttered, looking Santa in the eye for the first time.

"Yep, Santa,"

"My mom told me to t-trust you,"

"You're mother was right. Now, why don't you tell me your name?"

"B-Bernard,"

"Bernard, that's a nice name," Santa's eyes twinkled even more, if that was even possible, and he held his hand out a little farther to the boy. "You'll get sick if you stay there much longer. Why don't you come out? You can trust me."

It took a couple minutes, but eventually Bernard reached out and latched onto Santa's hand, holding it very tightly. Santa smiled kindly at Bernard and gently pulled him out from under the table. As soon as Bernard was completely out from under the table he jumped into Santa's arms, clinging to him tightly. Santa was only momentarily shocked and soon wrapped his arms around the boy, pulling him against his chest.

"My home's destroyed, isn't it?" Bernard asked, not looking at Santa.

"I'm afraid so," Santa sadly answered.

Bernard's body began to tremble, and soon the sounds of heartbreaking sobs could be heard coming from the little boy. Santa's grip tightened on the boy, "Shh, it will be okay. You're not alone."

"How? How am I not alone? My family and home are destroyed!" Bernard shrieked, fear taking over.

Santa placed his palm on Bernard's cheek and whispered, "Because I'm here, and I'm not going to leave you alone."

**A/N I think from here it's pretty obvious what happened to Bernard. He became a toy making elf with Santa. Anyway, time for definitions.**

**Waldelfen:**** German for 'Wood Elves'. My theory on the type of elf Bernard was before he became a toy making elf, which is why he is the Arch-Elf and much bigger than the others, while still shorter than normal humans**

**Heimat der Waldelfen****: German for 'Home of the Wood Elves'.**

**mein Sohn:**** German for 'my Son'**


End file.
